Friday, February 15, 2008
The show premiered in January of 2008 and has become the most watched reality series in Lifetime Network history. The show has hit a cord with women due to the number that have deep body issues. To help 2 women with the process, Carson brought his team to Chicago to put them through the How to Look Good Naked process.
43 year old Anita's home video described how she sees herself as a blob, no matter what she weighs; she doesn't feel sexy or love herself. Anita is afraid she will affect her 13 year old daughter with her negativity and wants a change.
Michael, 46, shared that she used to model occasionally, but after she had her son she started to put weight on and now feels like a pig. Michael spends a lot of her time in bed and avoids social functions with her family because of the way she sees herself.
Anita and Michael were both required on the first day to strip down to their bra and underwear to look at themselves in a room full of mirrors and take a hard look at themselves. After, they went to what Carson calls The Lineup, where each woman was required to choose their position in a lineup of 6 other women. Both Anita and Michael chose themselves to be larger than they actually are. The women then had to watch the comments from the street as people shared what the thought of the body (without the face) projected on the side of a building - both women were surprised at the positive comments they were given.
The second day of the How to Look Good Naked process found Anita and Michael heading to a bra specialist to get a professional underwear fitting. After each woman found that they were wearing the wrong type of underwear, they each started to feel better about themselves in the better fitting garments.
The outerwear shopping was next on the list as the women and Carson headed to Chico's, Ann Taylor and New York and Company to learn how to dress their bodies. Anita and Michael learned what styles look good on them and hide their trouble spots.
On day 3 of the process, Anita and Michael were given a hair and makeup overhaul from Carson's team from LA. After 5 hours of being transformed on the outside, the women were able to see themselves in the mirror - both were surprised at how beautiful they looked and how confident they felt.
The final step in the process was to head to the photo shoot where the women took pictures in the nude. Both felt and looked comfortable and confident. The pictures were again displayed outside on the building but with the face showing to get comments from the people walking by - they all gave positive compliments.
For women at home who can't have an entire team working with them for days, Carson suggests taking baby steps. Instead of looking in the mirror and seeing the bad stuff first, make an effort to find the things you like about yourself. Carson shared that changing the way the internal dialogue sounds with make a difference, say to yourself "this looks good, this looks good, this not so good - but so what." Oprah expressed that everything should be seen as good if it's carrying you around and is healthy.
